Manage a rail company with Tiny Rails

The world of gaming offers all sorts of different entrepreneurial hats for players to try on: managing theme parks, hospitals, farms, and even private bathrooms. Tiny Rails has you taking charge of a railway inherited from your grandfather, and you have to see to making it the best rail company in the world. Think you can?

The first thing that grabs your attention in Tiny Rails is the gorgeous graphics. Packaged in lovely looking pixel-art, this title is a delight to the eyes throughout the entire adventure. After a tutorial that shows you the basic aspects of train management, you get stuck right in. You have to operate various routes where you transport a set number of passengers who deliver profits depending on their happiness with your service. This depends, in turn, on the commodities in your rail cars and how fast you can get people to their destinations. At the start you don’t have much control over these parameters since you don’t have much money, but as you make trips your wallet gets fatter and lets you make the relevant upgrades to offer the best possible service.

But your balance sheet doesn’t depend on passengers alone – you also have to transport merchandise that little by little will make you the king of the rails. The upgrades available to customize your train include adding food, different kinds of entertainment, and more comfortable wagons so that your passengers are cozy as can be. Keep a special eye on your VIP clients as they’re more difficult to please, though they also give greater rewards if the trip suits their tastes.

It’s surprising how easy it is to manage everything, as strategy and management games sometimes can be a real headache with the zillions of menus that take you to more menus full of data. But the game in Tiny Titan Studio stands out for its simple interface and clarity of content. Another thing to highlight is the possibility of playing in two different ways: either fiddle endlessly with the management options, or take the game more in stride, enjoying the pretty pixelated landscapes on your trips and staying pretty chill about the rest. What’s more, your train will keep travelling to different destinations even when you’re playing, so you’ll always be surprised to discover your next place.

Though Tiny Rails does suffer the syndrome common to the gameplays in management games that push you to spend money (with their coins and diamonds), it’s still pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Watching the train chug along becomes a zen-like activity and I haven’t felt a single moment’s temptation to get everything at once. A game to chill out and enjoy with tranquility.

Tiny Rails for Android on Uptodown [APK] | Download